Swiss [swis] 1. Condition of a global player with exceptional status. 2. Attribute
of a state suspended between sovereignty and interconnectedness. 3. Term for
a territorial model that is applied to e.g. Special Economic Zones.
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In the last 200 years the alpine state has spread out wide beyond its physical boundaries - and thereby its
logo. In the farthest corners of the earth the white cross on the red background establishes an identity - from
the Brasilian city Nova Friburgo to the settlement New Glarus in Wisconson to the oversea branches of global
players, such as Swissôtel.

Detached from its logo, the brand Switzerland circulates also as a condition. Until well into the 1950s Uruguay
enjoyed a special economic status in its region and was as a result greeted as the Switzerland of South Ame-
rica, while in the 1990s Singapore and Malaysia competed over the position of Asia's Switerland.

Swiss etc. places this many-leveled phenomenon in the discourse over the post-nation state . Firstly, the glo-
bal status of the Swiss state is being examined. Then, in the theoretical section of the reader, it is abstracted
as a model, whose pattern is finally traced across the entire globe - from satellite states to special economic
zones.

Co-publisher Krystian Woznicki, summing up: To define a state model with the predicate Swiss engendered
astounding views over the contemporary relation between the state and world economy.

Editors: Nicolas Bourquin, Sven Ehmann, Krystian Woznicki

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